The invention relates to knitted protective fabrics and garments made therefrom.
The prior art is replete with protective fabrics used in a variety of contexts including protective clothing for use by athletes, law enforcement and military personnel; and material for use in manufacturing, packaging and outdoor applications. Ideally, protective fabrics will be light and will exhibit sufficient flexibility to conform to the surface intended to be protected, without compromising the strength and resilience properties required to achieve the desired protective effect. For example, in the case of fabrics used to make protective clothing, the garment must be flexible enough to conform to the wearer's body, yet have adequate rigidity to impart the necessary strength characteristics, i.e. to avoid injury arising from high impact falls or violent impact by objects whether large and blunt or small and piercing, without unduly compromising freedom of movement or comfort.
One approach is found in ballistic resistant articles which use reinforced fibres to create a woven fabric, as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,401. However, these and other conventional woven fabrics are made with light gauge yarn filaments which yields a fine weave. Such fabrics are relatively light but exhibit poor resistance to wear and abrasion. Further, although woven fabrics are flexible and can conform to the surface intended to be protected, such fabrics lack elastic properties (stretchability) and are ill-suited for cushioning against force from blunt objects, sharp edges and shock impact which may result from a fall while in motion, a common occurrence in sports such as in-line skating, bicycling, skate boarding, etc.
Another approach is to add padding or other layers of material to reinforce the fabric for desired purposes, but this approach increases cost and complexity in the design and manufacturing process. Moreover, the padding can be bulky, and unseemly in appearance.
A still further type of protective fabric is metal ring (chain mail) fabric. Chain mail fabric is used to make protective garments for persons who are at risk of injury as a result of their having to work with knives, sharp tools or machinery which is used to cut, perforate, or puncture other objects. Chain mail fabric is strong and flexible enough to hug the body of the wearer, forming a protective sheath around the selected body part, thereby avoiding possible entanglement with loosely hanging garments, and protecting the wearer from injury from sharp objects. However, chain mail is not adapted to cushion against shock or abrasion because it is not stretchable.
Moreover, chain mail garments are relatively expensive to manufacture and have a number of other disadvantages. For example, the repeating series of metal rings which are used in chain mail result in a protective garment which is heavier than conventional garments made from yarn or non-metal fabric, and which may be uncomfortable worn next to the skin for prolonged periods in hot, humid or very cold conditions. Further, the metal can chafe or irritate the skin of the wearer, particularly if motions are repeated. A further drawback of chain mail is its relative lack of elasticity. The prior art reflects a number of attempts to address this problem. U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,242 describes a chain mail garment which orients the metal rings with regard to the natural motion of the body so as to avoid tension in connection with bending movements. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,241 describes a chain mail fabric of a protective garment which is impregnated with an elastomeric material to impart elastic characteristics to the fabric.